Creature of Thousand Faces
by CrookedCrescent
Summary: Even HE deserves a second chance. FMA Brotherhood.
1. And the Truth Smiled in Return

**English isn't my native language.**

**The story is based upon Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood series. It requires you to know the whole thing.**

**All of the canon characters belong to their respective creator, Hiromu Arakawa. The rest are mine.**

**The beginning of this story has a "softer" and less-realistic draft version which can be found on my page.**

**Reviews and critiques are most welcome. Remember the golden rule: the more readers say - the more author wants to write.**

**I hope you will enjoy this story.**

* * *

><p><em>I'm dead.<em>

It was the first thought that had arisen from fathomless depths of his subconsciousness.

The membrane of his slumber had torn apart and through the break he felt…

_Warmth_.

Something soft and warm was brushing itself lightly against his cold, slippery skin.

It made him wake up with a start.

Noise. The second thing that caught his attention—was noise. Some strange humming noise was surrounding him like a swarm of invisible insects.

He put all of his effort into unsticking his lead-like eyelids open slowly, painfully. He didn't see a thing though—his pupils persistently refused to focus. All what he saw—was a mess of pale and desaturated colors with no hint of environment in it.

He blinked—it didn't do any help.

Furthermore it seemed like his eyeballs were covered with finely ground glass and any slightest movement shot tiny lightnings of pain through his skull.

His partially paralyzed brain desperately tried to analyze situation and kept failing at it. He blinked again, with no result. Then, carefully, he tried to move his body in attempt to turn his vestibular apparatus on (he couldn't even tell whether he was lying, sitting or standing after all) and immediately felt an explosion of piercing pain in the middle of his chest, where his Philosopher's Stone core was located. He winced. But that certain pain cleared his mind up a little.

And that senseless noise that he heard began to gain a form.

Form of a voice.

"…Oh wow, careful there. Barely a moment passed after you regained your consciousness and you're running away already?" said the voice. Female voice. Nothing like ones he had heard before.

It was _damn_ unexpected. And it caught him completely off guard.

Whose voice was it? Were there humans around?

In order to find this out—he lifted his indigo eyes up. When the last traces of blurriness had faded from his sight he found himself looking straight into a pale face hanging right over him. Glassy dark-green eyes were fixed on him with pure curiosity, confidence and a tint of surprise.

It was face of a woman. She was young. And she had long curls of platinum, almost pearl-gray, color.

_What the…? Who is…? What the hell is…? How on— How on Earth…?_

His head flooded with myriads of questions and he just stared at the human blankly, unable to come up with any explanation of what she was doing here, next to him. Or what _he_ was doing next to her, for that matter.

He took a nervous look around (as much as he could without moving) and realized a couple of things: first—he was actually lying on something incredibly soft. Second—that "something incredibly soft" was situated on a surface, probably a tabletop. And third—that entire ridiculous scene was taking place in a room. An ordinal, quite small, room. All what he could see from his point of view—was the dusty fireplace behind the human's back, tops of dirty-brown leather armchairs, and a huge window to the right with hazy shining of sun coming through it.

_Huh._

This all was beyond confusing. What was it? Where was he? It didn't look like hell, you know. Too bright, too silent, too…

_Warm_, again. That same feeling as if something velvet-gentle was stroking his weak, helpless body. He shuddered for the unfamiliar sensation and twisted his head regardless of pain it caused in order to see what it that was touching him was.

The answer was enough to sow the sense of unreality of what was going on into his mind.

It was that girl's fingers that did it. Thin, long, soft-as-a-biscuit fingers were moving up and down his side comfortingly. What the _hell_. She, an unknown human girl, was caressing (we'll call things by their right) the most ruthless murderer the world had ever known as if he was just some kind of a goddamn pussycat. It made him angry to no end. He frowned deeply and tried to move away from her hand. But of course he failed since his body was as controllable as a piece of cotton wool.

_Damn it, don't touch me, you…!_

The human didn't seem to notice his protest and thus didn't stop.

"Poor little weird creature. You are hurt, aren't you? Oh, if only I knew what I should do to make you feel better," she murmured under her breath with genuine sympathy, watching him thoughtfully.

This was just _wrong_. Unable to avoid this torture he glared at her in return and breathed out a threatening growl. Although it turned out so feeble it was scarcely hearable.

But she heard it and said with a smile "Hush baby. I'm not going to eat you, calm down," and stroked his head with her thumb.

He heaved a quiet sigh of defeat. _Great_. It was damn humiliating. It was tormenting. It was _devastating_. Devastating and…

…_Soothing._

Envy flinched.

Maybe it was because of his mind being overcast with mist of somnolence. Or maybe the reason consisted in lack of will to argue. Or perhaps it was just one of those half-delirious thoughts that he had creeping inside of his skull like a bunch of faceless distorted ghosts. Who knew?

But that single insignificant moment he thought of something very unusual for him. He thought that nobody had ever touched him like this. Nobody had ever asked if he was hurt. Nobody cared.

Nobody but the mysterious human. He felt a wave of… a wave of _something_…

_No_. No. He squeezed his eyes shut to force this unknown emotion banish from his mind before he recognize it.

Damn it. Stupid, miserable humans. He wasn't going to fall for it, not for a second. It should have been some kind of a trick. Maybe she was trying to manipulate him with all this pathetic stuff, huh? Maybe she was one of Mustang's men?

_Suddenly a flicking sound echoed in his head like thunder. A blinding image of twirling vivid red flashed before his mental vision. _

His eyes flew open while all of his four limbs reflexively twitched. The Stone in his chest responded with dull pain.

_What… What was it?_

The human girl shook her head and said something about him being restless for nothing, still drawing patterns with her fingers on his frail frame. _Whatever_, Envy didn't pay attention this time.

Because suddenly he realized that he couldn't remember what happened to him. Well, he vaguely recalled himself thinking that he was _dead_ the very moment he came to himself. But why would he think of such? And what that Mustang idiot had to do with it?

Envy would've thought about it and maybe it would've been in vain, but the human girl decided to go further with her annoying dandling and covered him with her palm as if it was a warm blanket. He hadn't a slightest idea why would she do that. He didn't care either. And he didn't hear what she said, because that moment the stealthy slumber used the opportunity to crawl out of its hideout and embrace him tightly in its downy paws.

Envy didn't have the required strength to struggle. So he surrendered.

Watching his blue-violet eyes closing, the human girl repeated thoughtfully what she had said a second ago:

"I'll be looking after you."


	2. One Little Unimportant Event

_Tock. Tock. Tock._

Clicking sound of spike heels knocking a paved road was ringing through the thickening twilight.

Cool evening wind was toying with curls of platinum.

The girl was walking down the street.

She was going to tell about her find. She just couldn't keep silence anymore. Too many questions were roaming inside of her head ever since she found a certain creature with those eyes. Those impossible indigo eyes. She couldn't stop thinking of them. Those eyes couldn't possibly be the ones of an animal. There was too much of a reason inside, too many emotions.

She had seen people with animal eyes in her life, but vice versa? Not once.

And, to be perfectly clear, those eyes didn't quite look like ones of a human either. Something was wrong with them. Looking into those eyes was like looking into the mirror and realizing that it reflects things that don't actually exist. At first it just puzzles you then slowly the terror begins to overfill your mind, rooting you to the ground and preventing you from looking away regardless how much you want to. The same was with those eyes. They disturbed her. They _frightened_ her. And yet she just couldn't cast her eyes away.

She had never seen a thing more scary, confusing and strange. But it didn't alienate her, no. In fact it attracted her, the way a candle attracts night butterflies. The terror the creature's eyes struck into her was mesmerizing in the exact same way.

And plus to that, Jena Blake was one of those nosy people who couldn't stand their own ignorance towards things they see.

It seems like the nature's fear of void had especially strong effect on those people. So the very moment the strange creature opened its eyes—that void appeared inside of Jena's soul. The stalking question of "what" and "how" which was way stronger than bashful warnings of her instinct of self-preservation. Despite or maybe because of that quality of hers—the platinum girl was never famed for her intelligence. It's quite simple—if she was smart enough, she wouldn't have done what she was going to do now. But come to think of it—if she was _smart_, she wouldn't have taken that unknown creature home in the first place.

But while all the girls of her age attended parties and dreamed of handsome princes and beautiful lives—Jena Blake composed macabre music and drawn pictures of beasts and monsters and they were all what her dreams were about.

And as the old saying goes—beware of what you wish for.

For it may actually come true.

"Hey, Shes!" the platinum girl called when she saw her friend leaving the gates of Central Command.

The brown-haired girl with huge glasses stopped and turned her head.

It was late in the evening. The Central was deserted and dark.

Her name was Sheska. She was just an ordinal clerk ever since she got her job in Central Command. The man who hired her was killed in cold blood and she never knew who the real murderer was. It still made her sad whenever she thought of it.

"Oh, hi there, Jena! I was worried that I'll miss you out. But here you are," Sheska reacted in a tired but still quite chirpy voice. "What was it what you wanted to talk about?"

"Well, I've found a really…" the platinum girl stammered. "…Strange thing. I suppose it must be some kind of an animal species. I thought you might know something about it. I mean, you used to have access to the Central City Library—you should know stuff."

"Huh?" Sheska blinked, confused. "What did you find?"

"It's difficult to explain, so I'll just show you," she said and shoved her hand into one of her bags she had hanging over her shoulders (Jena always carried two bags with her) and pulled out a small piece of paper. "Here, I sketched it for you. I guess that'll be easier for you to recall something if you'll see it for yourself," she said and handed her the picture.

The clerk girl readjusted her glasses and examined it carefully.

She had seen some drawings the platinum girl did and this particular one didn't quite look any different. Maybe save that the creature portrayed was rather small compared to the artist's ordinal preferences. And it was her first monster with vertical mouth. Well, maybe she decided to try something new?

But then Sheska remembered what the girl said. She told her she didn't make it up—she _found_ it, meaning that the girl thought it was _real_. Although Sheska was quite into paranormal things herself (maybe that's why they got along so well) she actually had doubts.

"Uh… Well… It's a nice drawing... But are you sure it wasn't a part of your dream?" she asked carefully.

The pale face twitched in annoyance and Sheska immediately regretted what she just said. "What, do you think I'm a _total craze_, huh? Walking all the way long just to show you a picture of nothing? It _is_ real, Shes. I saw it and I can assure you that _it_ saw _me_."

Sheska glanced at the drawn creature again. The charcoal lines fitted its distorted eight-legged frame and large round eyes well. For a brief moment it seemed like the little monster was glaring right at her from the piece of paper. She felt uneasy and looked away.

"Do you think it's an animal?" Sheska asked.

"Hey, it is _you_ who read thousands of nature encyclopedias—_you_ tell me!" the platinum girl replied impatiently.

"Well, I don't…" but suddenly imagine of recognition flashed through the clerk's head. She recalled something. But it had nothing to do neither with nature nor animals. It was about…

"Alchemy…" she breathed out.

The platinum girl blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

Sheska briefly remembered those weird rumors that she heard these days. While most of the people were talking about all the disturbances that took place in Central, there were some who told about strange inhuman creatures that possess eyes scarlet with cruelty and lust for bloodshed. They spoke of those in terms of Alchemy: Philosopher's Stone, sacrifices, human transmutation, etc. Although Sheska couldn't really merge all the details into one solid picture, she understood enough to be assured that those creatures weren't of the natural origin and were murderously dangerous. However she preferred not to think about it.

Until now.

Maybe _this_ particular monster looked small and rather harmless to be "murderously dangerous"—it just _couldn't_ be an ordinal animal.

Sheska stared at the drawing motionlessly, her face gradually blanching with terror. Just what kind of a person an alchemist should be to create such a disgusting thing?

"Where… Where did you find this thing?" she asked, raising her eyes at the girl with platinum hair.

"Uh, somewhere in the streets," Jena answered nonchalantly. "What is it?"

"I may be mistaken, but this thing looks like an artificially created being," Sheska assumed warily.

The girl looked confused.

"Uh, I know, Alchemy isn't your thing and all, but I heard that there're certain creatures that were created with Alchemy," she explained.

"Is that even possible?" Jena asked doubtfully. "And just what kind of creatures are they? Are they animal or human?"

Although Sheska found the last question quite weird because the drawn creature didn't look anything like human (of course—unlike Jena she didn't see its eyes for real) but she didn't say a word about it and just answered. "I don't know. I have no idea. I'm not an alchemist myself. I just remember hearing and reading something about some things similar. But even though Alchemy is commonly used worldwide, only alchemists themselves know its techniques and nuances," she shrugged as if saying "What can I do?" and then added "But I'd advise you to get rid of this thing as soon as possible. It's abominable."

She was older than her friend and so she always felt like counseling her.

However there was not a single time the platinum girl listened. _Not a single time_.

And this one wasn't an exception.

Jena nodded but by determination in her eyes Sheska could tell she wasn't going to let such a unique creature out of her grasp. No, of course not. What was Sheska thinking when she said that? "Okay. Alright. Thanks for the info, Shes. It's kind of made sense now."

The clerk girl raised her eyebrows. "What made sense?"

But Jena only shook her head "No, nothing. I think I'll be going now. Thanks again. It was nice to see you."

"You too," Sheska smiled and waved her hand. "Bye, Jena."

"See you 'round, Shes," the girl replied with equal smile and started to walk away.

Watching her leave, inwardly Sheska let a giant sigh of relief. Even though they were considered "friends", they didn't speak often (mostly because of estrangement of the platinum girl herself) but each time they did—Sheska couldn't help but feel herself a little tense. You didn't have to be exceptionally perspicacious to see that there was something very gloomy hidden in that girl's soul. She was childishly naïve and fragile, recklessly kind and talented, and she had people admiring her drawings, attending her concerts, reading her lyrics. But few of them actually realized just how utterly lost and lonely she was in her own little obscure fairytale.

Deep inside Sheska felt sorry for her and wished for someone (_not_ a monster) to come and take care of her, to open her eyes and show her that the real world is nice and beautiful too.

Sheska didn't know that it was not meant to happen.

What she _did_ know—that she was still grasping the picture of weird little monster in her hands.

"Oh, wait! Your drawing!..."

The girl with platinum hair didn't turn—she just waved her hand carelessly and yelled over her shoulder:

"Keep it!"

Sheska did.


	3. The Girl and the Homunculus

Lips moved without sound. Words that he never wanted to hear.

Tiny chasms webbed the flawless surface of blood-red.

Sharp gnashing sound tore his hearing.

_Then everything changed._

Fuzzy silhouette of a tall man dressed in military outfit.

Single flick of white fingers.

A wall of flame.

It suffocated.

It roared.

No…

It _sang_.

…_Huh? What?_

Envy opened his eyes, dumbfound. What a strange dream. Or was it a _dream_?

However it was, in fact, an important question, there was something that made it fade into the background for now. That "something" was the music he heard. And it wasn't just the music itself but also somebody _singing_ to that music.

He lifted his head and noticed in passing that the movement didn't hurt him anymore, but his body was too weak. He was still in that strange unknown room with dusty fireplace and leather armchairs, lying on something soft on top of a table. But this time it was dark. The only light source was the dim shining of something that was seemingly placed on the floor, perhaps an oil lamp or maybe a couple of candles—he couldn't see.

…Candles._ Fire_. The very thought of it made him shudder. Huh, since when he disliked fire?

In the shade he vaguely saw a petite figure of a girl sitting in one of the armchairs with some strange musical instrument on her lap. It resembled a guitar but with keys of a piano instead of strings. Thin pale fingers were sliding on those ivory-white keys with grace of a professional. The music produced was silent, gentle and soft, like a lullaby, but that kind of lullaby that would rather bring nightmares than dreams to any child listening to it. There was something lurid, something surreally dark about that melody. And the wordless song sang with tender voice accomplished the overall impression.

_Huh. So the little human has a thing for dark stuff? How cute. _Envy thought with sarcasm.

But at least she was too busy playing to notice that he was awake. So he used the opportunity to try to stand up. His sore limbs were trembling heavily but after a couple of failures he finally made it. He sat and touched his belly with his tiny palm—the Stone inside seemed to be alright this time. There was no hint of pain. Why would it hurt anyway? Envy didn't actually know that Stone _could_ hurt. Yes, it was his core, _his heart_, but first of all it was a _Stone_ so it shouldn't have any nerve endings, right? Even if it had something similar—how could it possibly…?

He recalled the picture from his dream—the red-colored surface covered in cracks. It _did_ look like Philosopher's Stone. Was it just the way his brain tried to explain the pain he felt? Or was his Stone actually _damaged_? But come to think of it—if anything was wrong with his Stone, he'd be long time dead. _Dead_… Envy still remembered what he thought the moment he opened his eyes for the first time in this strange room. He thought that he was dead.

_The Stone ache, the thoughts of death, loss of memory. Damn it, what the hell. I don't get it. Am I, what, hit my head too hard?_

Then that man sending fire with flicks. That was definitely Mustang, no doubt, for there was only one Flame Alchemist in the world. But how the hell _he_ got into his dream? And whose lips were those? And what did they say? Envy searched his memory for any valuable answer and couldn't find one. But he was sure he saw those things for real—they weren't just products of his imagination. They didn't even seem like ones. Because even in his most vivid dreams he couldn't feel the heat from fire, the heat that actually _burnt_. But he couldn't link those images to any real event, nothing he could think of. He couldn't remember having a battle with Mustang at all.

Damn that memory, it was no use.

He sighed quietly and took a look around to see things he missed the first time. He found out that the soft thing he was lying on was actually a pillow. The tabletop was just an ordinal tabletop made of some dark-colored wood, maybe pine or spruce. He turned around.

And froze.

The wall behind him had drawings pinned to it. The creature drawn… was it him? Well yes, it was definitely him. How… unexpected. Most of them had him portrayed sleeping with closed eyes, but some had him drawn with eyes wide open. Was it the platinum girl who drew them? If it was so, she captured his essence a little too well. He winced. He never liked to see himself in his true form. In some way he felt exposed and vulnerable while he wasn't wearing any disguise. And those drawings were like mirrors because he actually saw _himself_ on them.

Why the hell would a human _draw_ him? Why the _hell_…?

_Nothing makes sense. Not this damn human, not this damn room… not my own damn brain._ Envy turned away, frowning. _Damn it!_

And that's when he finally noticed that something had changed. It had become too silent. He looked at the girl and saw that she was staring at him motionlessly. Envy stiffened. She slowly put her guitar-piano aside and stood up. He watched her intently, unsure what to expect from her. The girl with platinum hair stood there for a couple of moments and then bent to pick up whatever light source was situated on the floor. It in fact appeared to be an oil lamp. Then she came closer and placed the lamp on the table next to him, illuminating him so now his small form cast a long black shadow on the tabletop and the wall.

Still not saying a word, Envy glanced at the lamp and then returned his attention to the human. She seemed afraid, but not disgusted. No, more like curious, like the first time. She was looking right into his eyes as if trying to see something in them. And for some reason he had a vain feeling she _did_ see something in them. He felt a strong urge to look away but he fought it down.

"Done boring a hole in my skull yet?" he asked harshly.

Obviously the least the girl expected from him was speaking because the moment he opened his mouth she muffled out a short shriek and abruptly shrank back.

Envy couldn't help but chuckle. You know, he just loved to see girls scream. "Oh what, you're afraid of me _now_?"

"No," she replied immediately, relaxing, but he still saw the fear glimmering in her dark-green eyes. "I just… I just didn't know you can talk."

Envy crooked his eyebrow in surprise. "Huh? Of course I can talk. I thought you already know that, lassie," he narrowed his eyes and asked "Didn't Mustang tell you?"

Instead of the reaction he expected the human girl pulled a long face. "Mustang? A wild horse? _What_?"

"Huh?" he blinked in puzzlement. "You really don't know who Mustang is?"

"Uh…" the girl touched her lips in confusion. "No…"

"Oh, so you have nothing to do with military then. Good," he said. "So who are you then, some puny street performer?"

A faint trace of offence ran past her eyes but she only answered quietly. "No…" there was a small pause and then she asked shyly. "You were looking at the drawings… What do you think?"

To be absolutely honest, Envy wasn't ready to be asked of such thing. Even his siblings were rarely interested in his opinion on things and he was rather okay with that, he liked to keep his thoughts to himself. So he was taken aback by the human's question and couldn't come up with any caustic answer so he kept silence.

Then the girl tried to make it more exact. "Well… Does it look like you? You know… Not every day one finds a creature like you… a mysterious little thing that can talk. It makes me wonder whether I lost my sanity or actually met someone…" she paused, looking for the word to describe him. "…inhuman."

Although the girl remained quite far away from the table and held her hands close to her chest with caution (he could even see her pale skin had gooseflesh and transparent little hair stood on their ends) there was something in her voice that sounded like fascination.

_Fascination and fear_.

He frowned grimly. This was the weirdest and the most illogical combination of things Envy had ever seen in a human. It got under his skin. It unsettled him because it actually made him feel _strange_. He couldn't put his finger on how exactly, just _strange_. He knew how to treat humans who were frightened of him. He knew how to treat humans who didn't know how to treat _him_.

But how was he supposed to treat the human who seemed to _like_ him? Yeah, she _was_ afraid but it wasn't the fear he used to see and the fear he _enjoyed_. It was some different kind of fear, the one that was mixed up with fascination.

He recalled the way she stroked him when he came to himself, the way her delicate fingers ran so _tenderly_…

_No wait, stop. Stop thinking about it_, the voice inside of his head hissed angrily. _Damn it, what the hell are you thinking? It's just a human, you stupid homunculus, why would you bother thinking why would it do this or that? Hello! You have unfinished business to do, remember?_

Business. Right. Right. Eventually he'll make sure to wipe this fascination out of her eyes anyway and it will stop bothering him. For now, it didn't matter. No, it didn't.

And the platinum girl just watched him silently, examining his indigo eyes, the ones that amused and scared her so much. She watched the arrow-shaped pupils widen and shrink depending on which direction his eyes were turned relative to the light source. She had never seen eyes of such color. Sometimes it seemed deep blue, sometimes more violet, sometimes even crimson. And when it mixed with orange speck of fire—it became green. The frame of little newt-like monster seemed so plain compared to those eyes. It almost seemed like those eyes were just taken from some other creature and placed into this small skull by force.

Before she realized what she was going to say, she asked. "What do you really look like?"

This question actually sent shivers down Envy's spine because it was just so out-of-the-blue. "…_What_?"

_For freaking sake, this human will really drive me insane._

"It's nearly funny you asked," he said in a voice cooler than permafrost. "Because it _is_ what I really look like."

"Really? I'd imagine you being bigger," she pondered. "Much bigger."

Envy's features twitched but he remained cool. "Okay."

"And with black hair," it seemed like she saw all these things in his eyes—so fixedly she was looking into them.

This time he actually had to cast his eyes down for it was unbearable.

"_Okay_," he repeated with more pressure. "Mind me asking just _what_ am I doing here?"

"Sleeping," she replied simply.

He gritted his teeth in irritation. "I mean, why am I _here_, with _you_?"

"I found you. I thought you needed some help. So I took you home and... Oh, are you hungry?" she asked and smiled warmly.

"Wait a minute, damn it!" he was losing his patience. "Tell me what happened to me? Where did you find me? What the hell is going on here?"

"Hey, calm down," she said in a soothing voice. "Everything's alright. I found you somewhere on the streets, you were just lying on the ground…"

"_Where_? Where was it?" he interrupted rudely.

"I don't know! Somewhere around Central Command I guess," the girl shrugged.

Central Command… Father… _Mustang_… What the hell… What the…

Then Envy suddenly realized something he had completely forgotten about. Something very important. Something damn _extremely_ important.

_The time_.

"When was it? When did you find me?" he asked nervously.

The girl answered honestly. If Envy had an ordinal heart—he'd feel it miss a beat.

"It was a month or so ago," her answer was.

"No… wait… wait," the panic began to overfill his mind. "What date is it now?"

"It's May 25."

"_You're lying_!" he shouted.

It made her jump. "No! I'm not!" she protested with ardor. "Why would I lie to you anyway?"

_The Promised Day_, damn it. It was scheduled on April 23. _April 23_. It was the day of the eclipse, the day when the whole freaking universe sets itself in the right order. But that girl, she was _alive_. And Father wanted to sacrifice the _whole country_ _of Amestris_.

_No. It can't be._

_Something isn't right here._

_Think, Envy. Think._

"I know you are lying," he hissed menacingly. "You want to trick me, lassie?"

"Don't be paranoid," she scoffed. "I don't even know who you are, newty."

Envy felt genuinely sorry he couldn't hit that arrogant little face of hers. But it was okay—he'll regain his ordinal form someday. "I'm not a newt."

"My name isn't "lassie" as well," she responded cockily and crossed her arms on her chest. "My name is Jena. What is your name, if you have any?"

The homunculus heaved a sigh of annoyance. But he supposed he had nothing to hide, not in this form anyway. "Envy."

"Really, is that your name?" the platinum girl looked surprised. "I expected you to have some long, complicated name."

"Yeah, as I recall you also expected me to be big and hairy," Envy said gloomily. "Don't you have problems with perceiving reality?"

For the first time in the whole day, she laughed.

"You're funny, Envy."


	4. Arrows That Pierce Innocent Hearts

Envy, the biggest misanthrope alive, was sitting on a pillow in front of a human in her house, in the middle of the night, without any idea of what to do and how to get out.

Maybe it _was_ hell, after all.

"So, are you hungry?" Jena asked again.

"I don't have to eat," he lied. No, it _was_ true, but not quite. Actually, if he didn't eat at all—he'd be wasting additional Stone's energy on artificial nourishment for his physical body. So the food consumption actually saves his Stone's energy content (despite the common opinion—it wasn't infinite). But, for that matter, he could've also worn warm clothes in cold weather instead of keeping his body's temperature normal using his Stone's potential and so on. Envy, so to say, wasn't a thrifty person. And the main reason for such a loose attitude consisted in Envy's striving to opposite himself against humans as much as he possibly could, to emphasize that in conditions that would've killed an ordinal human—he felt just fine.

"You don't?" she asked again distrustfully. "Okay," she was able to overcome her fear and now she was standing on her knees with her chin placed on her arms folded on the tabletop. Her oval doll-like face was just in a few inches from Envy with his miniature yet razor-sharp teeth. "Is it true that you were created with Alchemy?"

Envy looked at her with suspicion. If what she said was true and she had nothing in common with Mustang and military, she probably knew little about Alchemy, too. And people who knew little about Alchemy weren't even aware of homunculi at all. But on the assumption of her question it appeared that she actually knew something and it was quite strange.

"Is that all you know about me?" Envy answered her question with a question of his own.

"Well… I think so. At least that's all I have heard about things like you," she answered so innocently as if she truly didn't understand what she was saying.

Envy's nerves were getting as taut as bowstring.

"Where have you heard that?" he asked as calmly as he could, but his annoyance was growing bigger and bigger every single second that he spent with that human. It was getting hard to contain.

"I gave one of my drawings of you to my friend and she told me that you looked like something created with Alchemy," she answered carelessly.

"_What_?_ You gave a picture of me to_…? …Alright," in the last moment Envy managed to retain his equanimity. He inhaled deeply and rubbed his temple with his fingers. "Alright. Who's that friend of yours that knows such things?"

Jena lowered her eyes in a manner of a guilty child. "You'll get angry, I suppose… It seems like you dislike people related to military…"

"WHAT? You said you have nothing to do with military!" he snapped.

"That's what you said, not me," she pouted childishly. "And it's true—_I_ have nothing to do with military but it doesn't mean I know nobody who does."

"That's the same thing, damn it!" he growled.

"No, it's not," Jena protested stubbornly. "And she neither an alchemist nor a soldier. She just works in Central Command. You see, she just loves to read and she remembers literally everything from what she reads. She said that she just read about it somewhere, that's all."

That description sounded familiar.

"What's the name of that woman?" he asked.

"It's Sheska. Why?"

Sheska. _Sheska_. He definitely had heard this name before but where?

"_You know what? I've got my job here because of General Hughes…"_

"Ah, that's the girl. I remember," Envy uttered under his breath.

Jena bent her blond eyebrows in surprise. "You know her?"

He glanced at her sternly. "Not quite."

The girl tilted her head slightly. "_She_ knows you…?"

"Well _now_ she definitely does, thanks to you," he grumbled sarcastically.

"And what's the big deal about it?" Jena shrugged her shoulders. "Why are you so afraid of military?"

"I'm not afraid," he muttered, getting really tired of her. "And it's none of your business anyway."

Jena rolled her eyes and sighed with irritation. "Why don't you trust me? Maybe I can help you."

He snickered so sharply that it made her jump. "_Help_ _me_? Oh really? And why are you so sure that I _need_ your help, you dumb girl?"

Her face darkened. "It's simple. What would you do if I will just stand up and leave right now?"

"I'll be thanking Heavens for being so kind to me," Envy replied haughtily without a slightest delay.

Jena scrutinized him with her glassy dark-green eyes narrowed then said. "Okay," then stood up, took the oil lamp and left.

Envy watched her leave then blinked, stunned. He didn't actually expect her to leave for real when he said it. Although he was glad that he was finally left alone, as frustrating as it was—he knew the girl was right. He glanced at the closed door then at the window which was shut, too.

He sat there for a couple of moments, brooding, and then he crept off the pillow and pushed it down to the floor. It hit the parquet with damped "Boof!" sound and raised a small cloud of dust. He glanced down at it. It didn't look too difficult so he aimed well to jump precisely down on the pillow. Unfortunately the pillow cushioned a little too much and Envy bounced off it and landed on the floor. It wouldn't be a problem if something wasn't wrong with his weight. Usually, by default, his Philosopher's Stone balances his natural mass (which is immutable, mind you) with the way gravity affects it depending on the form he wears. That's right—it doesn't matter how small he looks, he always bears the physical mass of the giant beast, even when he is rendered into a miserable parasite.

And for the first time in his whole life—his Stone lost the balance.

So the squishy-looking homunculus hit the floor with a sound of a solid brick and something in his second right arm crackled rather loudly and nastily.

"The _hell_…" he shook dust off of himself and touched the bruised arm and winced. Blunt pain was pulsing somewhere around his elbow. He waited for the Stone to heal it but it didn't happen, as well. "Oh ain't I the luckiest homunculus ever? How am I supposed to walk now?" he muttered to himself and chuckled bitterly, limping to the middle of the room.

There was a rug made of synthetic à la bear fur. It stung into Envy's nostrils mercilessly so he decided to avoid it and headed for the door.

And, of course, the girl closed it securely.

Bitch.

As much as he had to return to the Father and help him to complete the plan, whatever happened to it, to do so he had to acquire additional Philosopher's Stones (at least one!) otherwise it'd be nearly impossible to reach the Central Command without any problems. Well, he could at least _try_…

…If that goddamn door was _open_.

His shoulders drooped, all four of them.

And what was he supposed to do now?

The first idea that came to his mind was to wait for the girl to return (and she had to, at some point—she left her ridiculous guitar-piano instrument here) and then slip out of the room while the door is open. But he rejected this idea right away because there was no way he could move faster than a young human, especially with one of his limbs getting in the way. Even if he'd somehow manage to escape and reach the Central Command, he strongly doubted the Father was still there since if he was actually defeated, he and the other homunculi might have fled somewhere else, maybe even in some other country.

Suddenly Envy felt frightfully lost and lonely. He sat there in utter darkness, not far away from the closed door. He looked around, desperately wishing for a mouse hole in a wall or something but, of course, everything was intact and inaccessible. He cast a sorrowful glance at the thin line of yellow light under the door.

He caught himself waiting for the girl to return…

…And willing to accept her help.

He hated himself for being so disgustingly weak but it seemed like he had no choice. If he wasn't going to somehow use her—he wasn't going to leave this place for it was clear the girl wasn't going to let him go for the hell of it. He had no clue what that crazy little broad was thinking, keeping him here like some kind of an exotic pet.

_Oh Envy, Envy, Envy, _the voice inside of his head murmured pitifully._ What did you get yourself into this time?_

"Some serious mess," he replied and curled up right where he was.

He waited, he waited for long.

Hours went by. The only thing he felt was the pain in his second right elbow. The only thing he heard was his own breathing. Sometimes he heard some noise coming from the street.

He began to doze off. Huh, great. It appeared his Stone was really damn bad if it couldn't even keep his body's "batteries" charged. Just what the hell happened to it, on what exactly did it spend all of its energy?

No regeneration, no physical state maintenance. What will be next—hunger, thirst, freezing?

How disgustingly _human_.

Whatever. Envy was determined not to fall asleep. He was sick of sleeping already. His Stone might as well shut up and go to hell.

There was no clock in the room, but it was dawning so he assumed it was around seven or eight in the morning when he finally heard footsteps approaching.

Envy felt his heart jump right up his throat.

The platinum girl opened the door and stepped in. She looked tousled and sleepy and she was still wearing a nightie. Even though she didn't quite look like she had a nice sleep—he still envied her.

And the first thing she saw the moment she entered—was Envy curled up on the floor right in front of her. She looked at the table and noticed the pillow on the floor and immediately understood everything.

Then she turned her dark-green eyes back to him and crossed her arms on her chest boldly.

"Well?"

Envy grimaced.

"Okay, you won. I _do_ need your help," he grumbled.

Jena's face beamed with a smile in a moment.

"Now that's better!" and she kneeled before him. That's when she noticed his arm had swollen up. "Oh my, how did you manage to hurt yourself?" her face flushed with worry and she bent closer to him.

Envy recoiled and instantly winced in pain. "I'm fine."

"Let me see," she said and held her hand out.

"I said I'm fine!" he snarled.

Jena gazed at him skeptically as if saying "And just who told me he needed my help?"

Envy looked at her with sheer displeasure. "Damn it," he surrendered and allowed her to examine his elbow while feeling himself most uncomfortable.

She took a closer look, touched his arm gently (he tried hard not to let a sound out) and finally said. "It's just a slight dislocation. Though I can't really understand how you've got it. But you know, you could've broken your spine that way instead, so I consider you lucky."

Envy muttered something incoherent.

"So, what is your favorite color?" Jena asked.

He blinked. "Huh? Wha—OUCH!" he cried and immediately felt the pain vanish. He moved now perfectly proper arm and then turned his eyes at the smiling girl, shocked. "You damn fool! You could've made it worse!"

"No," she responded contentedly, still smiling. "I did it many times on kittens and pups in due time."

He glared at her with his eyes widened. "You little sadist."

She laughed. "You lucky I worked in a Veterinarian Post when I was a teen."

Envy watched her smile and then lowered his eyes. He felt much better now, when no pain was bothering him. But he wasn't going to thank her. No, he wasn't. He didn't even feel grateful. Of course he didn't.

But Jena saw what he was denying anyway and replied in a tender voice. "You're welcome, Envy."

_Damn_. How nasty and ridiculous it sounded with his name in the same sentence. It made his stomach turn… and Envy told himself it was from disgust.

"Alright," Jena exclaimed and sat erect. "Let's begin with the main thing. I know your name but I don't really know who you are. Maybe you'll start with a little biography?"

Envy collected himself. Of course, he wasn't going to tell her all the truth. But if he'll keep it as close to the truth as possible—it'll spare some headaches for him.

"I'm a homunculus," he said honestly.

Jena pondered. "Homunculus? Never heard of those. What are they?"

"We're artificial humans," he answered and looked away. He knew what she will say the next before she did.

"But you don't look like human."

Envy was watching the clouds float across the peach-colored morning sky.

"I can't explain that myself," he said emotionlessly. "But it's not what I normally look like."

"But didn't you say it was what you really look like?" Jena recalled.

"Ugh…" he already hated this conversation so much. "It's what I _really_ look like but not what I _prefer_ to look like."

"Oh," she breathed out understandingly. "What do you prefer to look like then?"

There was a small pause. "Human," he answered, his vertical lips twitched lightly.

Jena thought it over and asked. "How?"

"Let's say, I can look whatever I want. I'm a shape-shifter. Every homunculus has a unique ability. Mine is shape-shifting," Envy turned his eyes at her.

"Wow. That's interesting!" she looked genuinely impressed. "Can you show me?"

"No."

She pouted in disappointment. "Why?"

"That's what I need your help with," he said. "Tell me, do you know anything about Philosopher's Stones?"

"I know it's the thing that allows alchemists trick the equivalent exchange rule. Why?" Jena asked, confused.

"Well, you see, every homunculus is created with a Philosopher's Stone at his or her core," he explained. "That's where all of his or her vital energy is contained. With this energy we can heal ourselves, keep our bodies' condition normal without having to eat, sleep and so on. And that's where I draw energy for shape-shifting as well," he paused and then added nonchalantly. "Oh and it allows us to live forever, too."

"You're immortal!" she breathed out with admiration but, to his great displeasure, without a tiniest hint of envy. "You must be really old then."

"We don't age," Envy said grimly. "We exist as long as we have energy left in our Philosopher's Stones."

"Not quite immortal then," she noted. Then she touched her chin with her fingers thoughtfully and said. "Let me guess—you need to somehow refill your Philosopher's Stone?"

He nodded. "Oh look, you're smart. See, I don't remember how but I have wasted the most of my Stone's energy content. Seems like I've gotten myself into a huge trouble…" he turned his eyes away and then added silently. "…again."

Jena knitted her eyebrows in reflection. "Trouble that concerned that Mustang horse guy?"

If there was anything Envy was best at—it was lying. So he needed only half a second to think of just the right lie to strike precisely into that girl's heart.

"Yeah, him. You see, there're certain people in the military that dislike homunculi like me. And _that Mustang horse guy _is one of those people. They find us unworthy to live because we are artificial form of life. They force us to hide and live our lives as social outcasts just because we are different. They call us monsters, freaks, spawns of hell and so on," he looked right into her big glassy eyes and said. "If they find us—they kill us."

The girl's face clouded over and Envy knew he tipped the scales to his side. "But who exactly is this Mustang guy?"

"He's an Alchemist, a Flame Alchemist, the one who took not the least part in Ishvalan War of Extermination, which you have surely heard a lot of," the girl nodded and he continued. "The last images I remember are of fire and that man, that's why at first I thought you were in concert with him."

"I'd never be," she said unhesitatingly and shivered as if the very though terrified her.

"He had already incinerated my sister to death," Envy said with just right amount of grief in his voice. "He probably wanted to finish me off. Seems like I had used all of my Stone's potential to make an escape. And it cost me piece of my memory."

Jena's lips curved in sincere sympathy. "Poor Envy," she whispered with her heart bleeding.

_Hah, typical human. So easy to manipulate._ Envy thought with sheer amusement.

He said nothing to her and cast his eyes down as if it was too painful for him to even think about it. But it wasn't.

The girl clasped her nightie in her fists with bottomless pool of guilt appearing in her eyes. "And that drawing I gave to my friend few days ago… It could fall into his hands any time…"

"That's exactly what I thought," he said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know," she murmured miserably. "How can I protect you?"

"You can't," Envy said. "As well as I can't protect myself while I'm still in this form. So I need a new Philosopher's Stone to merge my own with in order to recharge it, as soon as possible. But I can't find one on my own," he glanced at her and asked his final question.

And with this question Envy made a first step on the road which he will never turn away from again.

"You think can you do that much for me?"

Her dark-green eyes were drowning in affection for him so Envy was sure she will do, and she did.

"I will," Jena said with confidence.

If Envy had human lips, they'd crook into his trademark ghastly grin.


End file.
